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Month: July 2014

When I started out as a recruiter, I was trained to believe that, first and foremost, it’s a people business. And it wasn’t hard for me to relate to the anxiety I see in candidates who want or deserve a job, and hiring managers who are afraid they’ll make a wrong choice. I’ve been in both pairs of shoes. Remember the old country song, “If the phone don’t ring, you’ll know it’s me”? That’s what drives me nuts. You can see where I’m going with this.

My partner and I hear stories all the time from candidates who have been through some or all of the stages of the interview process and then suddenly the hiring manager “goes dark” – even stops talking to us and we’re on their side! Days and weeks go by and then an email arrives saying “we’ve decided to go in another direction”. Are you kidding me?

When hiring managers act with obvious disregard for the feelings of another human being, they do a huge disservice to their organizations. Don’t they realize that people talk? A reputation for cavalier behavior spreads quickly. Not to mention that you never know where someone will end up. Maybe because I worked so long in advertising where you never knew when your enemy today could be your boss or client next week, I appreciate the the idea of keeping your enemies to a minimum. The toes you step on on the way to the top may well be connected to the butt you have to kiss on the way down.

There was a book written a while ago about all of life’s important lessons being learned in kindergarten. If you had the flu the day they were discussing “Do unto others”, you might want to revisit the concept. Now let me hear from you.